Buyback
Scorecard Stock Buybacks Wrestle with an Aging BullThe S&P 500 as Stock Repurchasers Best & Worst Companies
The table below ranks the 278 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from December 31, 2013, through December 31, 2014. The companies are ranked according to their return on investment from these repurchases. As calculated by Fortuna Advisors, a New York City-based consultancy that compiled the data for Institutional Investor, buyback ROI measures the overall rate of return of buybacks, based on the internal rate of return of the cash flows associated with them. Buyback strategy tracks the performance of the underlying stock in terms of annualized total shareholder return. Once Fortuna determines buyback ROI and buyback strategy, buyback effectiveness can then be calculated as simply the difference between the two, determined as compounded return.

How Industries Compare as Stock Repurchasers
Industry Market
Cap ($ Millions)		Total
Buyback (S Millions)		$ Total
Buyback as %
Market Cap 		Buyback
Strategy 		Buyback
Effectiveness 		Buyback ROI
Technology Hardware and Equipment1,248,326 132,378 10.6 21.513.137.4
Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment464,665 26,096 5.6 32.6 0.8 33.6
Transportation 433,574 24,343 5.6 39.8 -4.4 33.6
Healthcare Equipment and Services 847,808 55,759 6.6 29.9 -1.5 28.0
Real Estate 461,975 1,709 0.4 17.1 6.9 25.2
Retailing 852,913 53,789 6.3 24.8 -1.9 22.5
Food and Staples Retailing 595,385 21,319 3.6 26.9 -3.8 22.0
Diversified Financials 773,278 49,347 6.4 30.7 -6.9 21.7
Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 1,637,676 67,292 4.1 29.5 -7.1 20.3
Consumer Durables and Apparel 291,503 12,014 4.1 25.9 -5.4 19.1
Insurance 515,590 37,655 7.3 25.5 -6.0 18.0
Capital Goods 1,408,997 86,246 6.1 25.4 -6.7 17.0
Software and Services 2,140,389 109,059 5.1 20.0 -2.8 16.7
Media 682,007 59,662 8.7 27.7 -8.8 16.4
Consumer Services 338,028 14,360 4.2 19.6 -2.7 16.3
Banks 1,135,209 43,484 3.8 25.2 -7.1 16.2
Household and Personal Products 398,722 18,832 4.7 16.7 -2.2 14.1
Food, Beverage and Tobacco 1,032,109 46,307 4.5 18.3 -3.9 13.8
Materials 603,099 39,123 6.5 21.8 -7.1 13.1
Utilities 592,742 1,614 0.3 17.8 -4.7 12.3
Telecommunication Services 419,184 17,034 4.1 5.2 0.0 5.2
Commercial and Professional Services 126,530 9,307 7.4 16.2 -10.0 4.6
Energy 1,572,304 82,888 5.3 11.2 -9.2 1.0
Automobiles and Components204,068 13,144 6.4 23.0 -18.7 0.0
S&P 500 18,776,083 1,022,762 5.4 23.4 -3.2 19.5
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from December 2013 to December 2014. Includes the 493 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 12/31/2014. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.